The decision taken by the Board of Directors of the Accor group to proceed with the plan to split the group into two separate listed companies is the latest of a series of decisions being driven by financial investors which may change one of the largest employers in the hospitality sector into an empty shell.

Some 10,000 workers, family members and supporters are currently demonstrating in Ankara in near-freezing temperatures in protest against a snap government decision to close their workplaces at the end of January 2010.

In Hassi Messaoud, Algeria, 850 kilometers southeast of Algiers, Eurest Support Services, a subsidiary of Compass Group, subcontracts catering and hospitality services to a score of multinationals like Schlumberger, Halliburton, Repsol, BP, Ciepsa, Burlington. Hundreds of ESS employees live in tents; under desert temperatures, and suffer difficult hygiene and living conditions.

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The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is an international federation of trade unions representing workers employed in agriculture and plantations; the preparation and manufacture of food and beverages; hotels, restaurants and catering services; all stages of tobacco processing. The IUF is composed of 394 affiliated organizations in 126 countries representing a combined membership of around 2,6 million.